Buoyweather provides over fifteen years of historical Virtual Buoy reports spanning from 1997 to yesterday. Roughly 2.5 days of data is provided per page view. If you are in need of historical data in bulk, please see our Historical Data Page for details or contact us at consulting@buoyweather.com.

Three data formats are available on the website including the familiar wind/wave graph plus the offshore and nearshore text products. These are commonly used for investigating marine related accidents or damage, planning vacations to choose the ideal time of year, or comparing current forecasts with previous events to refine the outlooks. Our historical wind/wave graph format is unique in that you can plug in dates of the past and below the past data is a graph of the current forecast at the same location for comparison. The times listed are in UTC. They are not adjusted to your local time zone.

Choosing Hindcast Points

The source of the data is the Global WaveWatch III model which is on a fixed grid where latitudes are spaced at 1.0 degrees and longitudes at 1.25 degrees. The Virtual Buoy point you choose below must be a valid grid point. With our regional models and the latest global model being .5 degree, the historical point may not match up exactly with the Virtual Buoys. We have a map tool to help you find the nearest hindcast point.
The latitude needs to be rounded to the full degree. Longitudes
are on the 1.25 interval starting at 0 so the point must be evenly
divisible by 1.25 to be on the grid.

It is important to understand model data when choosing and analyzing points. Here are some key items to consider:

Inland seas are not covered by the historical data on the website. Examples: Mediterranean, Red Sea, Caspian etc. However, inland seas are covered by our bulk historical data, described here.

Points must be on the model grid and over water. Points on or too close to land will not have wave data.

The model provided here is most valid for deep water, offshore points. Shallow water, local points, small islands, or any topography altering winds/waves may not be fully resolved by the data provided here. This model provides outlying conditions only.

Tropical Cyclones may not be fully resolved depending on the event, so the full effects of tropical storms, hurricanes, and typhoons may not be apparent. Global scale models often lack the resolution to fully estimate winds around tropical systems.

The historical virtual buoy report on the website displays 2.5 days of data per page view. If you need a longer time series of data for a virtual buoy or any other location in the world, we offer a full 34 year data set globally which contains data at 3 hr intervals from 1979 to present. For more information on this dataset, please see our Historical Data Page for details or contact us at consulting@buoyweather.com.

Custom consulting is also available for unique wave/weather analysis and modeling - for more information on this type of consulting, see here - Marine Weather Consulting

A tool is available to help you find valid Virtual Buoy points in your area. There are two ways to access it. When you are looking at a forecast point in the region you are interested in, on the left under "VIRTUAL BUOY FORMATS", click on "Historical".

If you know the approximate latitude and longitude of the area, you can get there directly using the form below.

Latitude:
Longitude:

You do not need to be precise. Round off to the nearest degree. Southern latitudes and western longitudes are entered as negative numbers. Do not put letters like "S" in the input. 30 degrees south = -30